In the early part of 2018, I made myself a list of goals for myself as a sex worker. The goals were things like “I want to make $XXXX per month” and “I want to create more X, Y & Z varieties of content.” And then I broke down those goals into what I was going to do to get to those points, ultimately making those into mini-goals. Producing better quality content, producing more content, updating with consistency, etc. It looked like a lot of work and I wasn’t sure I was prepared for it. Now that 2018 is over, I can look back and see that even though it was hard… I hit my financial goals, which was my #1 priority.
I didn’t do it 100% alone, but all of what I’m about to outline below and in follow up blogs can be done on your own.
I want you to succeed. I want you to hit your goals. I’m not an expert, but I can show you the tools I used to help me meet my goals which I hope will in turn help you.
This is going to be a multi-part blog because there is a LOT of information here that is honestly too much to include in one post. This first post is all about the tools I recommend for success. I’ll cover editing & shooting & other things in later posts. If you’re curious about preparing for a shoot, I recommend this blog I wrote a while back. This other blog talks about creating a back-log of content, which includes prioritizing categories.
Part of this is taking some frequently asked questions from peers, part of this is my experience, and part of this is experiences of others who have graciously contributed.
Tools of Our Trade
Lighting
The very first thing I always recommend for anyone to invest in is lighting. A camera will even come second to this, because most of you have a phone that has video shoots HD if not 4K quality videos AND has editing capabilities. So, for my suggestion, lighting comes first. There are a lot of options out there and not all of them are even “video/photography lights” because that can get expensive quickly.
For those who are looking for budget friendly lights: IKEA sells these floor lamps ($12.99 on sale at time of writing this blog) which are surprisingly really great light diffusers. If you can get 2 of these lamps and load them full of LED White Daylight Balanced bulbs, you’re going to get relatively clean lighting when having the lamps on either side of wherever your camera is set up. Why daylight balanced bulbs? Because you can also use these in tandem with natural light from a window to have even better lit videos. I also have daylight balanced bulbs in all my ceiling light fixtures because then I don’t have to worry about white balance – everything is the same white balance! If you don’t have an IKEA nearby, both Walmart & Target sell similar floor lamps with a thin paper shade that acts as a diffuser. Home improvement stores, such as Home Depot & Lowes, sell clamp lights, which you can add a homemade diffuser to for cleaner lighting. Clamp lights run about $5-10 a piece, so this is a super budget friendly option!
For those who are able to spend a bit more on lights, I’ve got a couple suggestions here for you: First up, my go to lighting kit by Cowboy Studios ($110). It’s not fancy. It’s cheap quality tbh. However, it’s got a decent lumen output, a carrying case and includes light stands & soft boxes. Note that you can switch out the soft boxes for shoot-thru umbrellas, which make storing these while they’re still put together a lot easier: just pop the umbrella out and you’re set. The soft boxes are harder to break down and because this is a cheap kit, they break pretty easily. There are cheaper versions that don’t have as many bulbs… I don’t recommend those. Lighting is SUPER important. I can’t stress this enough. The light kits where each light head only has 1 bulb are not going to give you enough lighting to have a clean, consistent look unless you buy more than just 2. At that point, you may as well save money and get the kit for the same/less cost. Someone once told me that for video lights, never use anything with less than 1000watts….something about lumen output capabilities. I’d urge you to do the same.
Second lighting suggestion: Neewer Dimmable Ring Light Kit ($115.99). I have two of these suckers because I like them so much. But also because I’ve found that just having 1 doesn’t quite give me the consistent lighting that I strive for. Ring lights are great because you can center your camera in the middle and they give you pretty clean, sexy lighting. I use two of them because I found that when I’m super close to the light, if I don’t have another light source, I get really washed out in video. Yikes! Sometimes, I will use a ring light with my soft boxes just so I can get that clean lighting without getting washed out.
Third lighting suggestion. Neewer dimmable LED panels kit ($159.99) with soft boxes ($25.99). Not going to lie, this is my least favorite, however they are so easy to travel with because they’re flat & stackable, unlike the Cowboy Studio Light Kit. I had these panels for a while and ended up selling them to switch back to the light kit. However, at the time, there weren’t soft boxes available for them and that was half my problem. Now that there are soft boxes for them and I’ve used friends’ set ups, I like this set up a lot more. I still wouldn’t use it without those soft boxes though. The light is too harsh if it’s directly aimed at you and depending on your ceilings/walls, bouncing the light directly off either wasn’t very consistent.
During the day when I can use natural light as extra “fill” light, I’ll have the window behind the camera & tripod, with 1 umbrella-ed light stand on either side to create the cleanest lighting I can manage. During the evening, I use a ring light with my camera in the middle and umbrella lights (one on each side). White umbrellas that are not lined with shiny or black material are meant to be used to “shoot thru”, meaning have the umbrella pointed at you, not away from you. Shoot thru umbrellas are light diffusers which soften lighting, eliminating direct, harsh light.
Clean lighting may not be your goal – creative lighting is super fun and I encourage you to experiment with down the road!! Clean lighting will generally get rid of harsh shadows and reduce the dramatic contract between lighter areas & darker areas. Master clean lighting so you can better experiment with creative lighting. A better lit video is going to have less picture noise and make editing much easier.
Consistent lighting is going to help you have consistent quality. If you learn nothing else reading my blogs, you’re going to learn that consistency is key.
White Balance
This part is super short! Get yourself a white balance card. It costs $7 and it’s the best investment I made in 2018. No joke. Since lighting can be so inconsistent in terms of warm vs cool tones, a white balance card is going to save you editing time because you’ll have made the adjustment in camera. You’ll see below the difference between warm vs cool tones & how much better it looks when you white balance. Every camera is different in terms of how to set the white balance, so I can’t tell you how exactly to do that. Set your white balance any time your lighting changes (curtains open vs curtains closed, 1 light vs 2 lights, etc).
Tripods
Tripods are deeply personal. Seriously. My main tripod was $40 and it’s lasted me my entire career. I’ve used colleagues’ $100+ tripods and found them too complicated and too frustrating. I should note that I own upwards of 5 varieties of tripods though, depending on what kind of content I’m shooting and where.
This mini Manfrotto tripod is $25, which is a lot for a tiny tripod. However, it comes with a cell phone attachment, which I think is well worth it if you’re shooting with your phone. I use it for Giantess, POV spitting, or anything where I want a really extreme angle looking up at me. It’s really sturdy and can handle even my heaviest camera (a Canon 5D mkII) without it shifting on me… and it comes in cute colors, which is obviously super important 😉 Also, it’s Manfrotto, a high quality/high end tripod company, so it’s going to last a while.
If you’re looking for a flexible tripod, I recommend avoiding the small, less than $10 ones. They aren’t strong enough to hold most cameras without them “going limp”, unless you’re using your phone or a webcam to shoot. If you are, carry on, but be prepared to replace it regularly. Pay attention to how much weight the flexible tripods can hold so you know if your camera will work with it or not!
For shower shooting or anything that requires suctioning your camera to a surface, you’ll again need to look at weight. Generally, a single suction cup won’t be strong enough to mount anything more than a GoPro or phone to a wall. If you’re using a heavier camera, such as a DSLR or camcorder, you may need to get a 3 suction cup mount to support/distribute the weight. I’ve tried a couple of the 3 suction cup mounts, each off Amazon priced under $25. None of them have worked for me and I’ve returned them because of that. If you are using a shower to suction mount a camera, the type of tile your shower is lined with can make a difference in how well the suction works, especially a cheap suction! I don’t shoot enough shower content to try an $85 suction mount such as this one. If anyone reading this has any suggestions, please let me know so I can add your recommendation here!
Many Amazon & eBay camera kits include tripods these days, which I’d love to say is great. But those tripods are cheaply made and probably won’t last. I broke one within a week of getting it, just using it & treating it the same way I treat my main tripod.
When it comes to general use tripods, I’m going to let you do some digging because my main tripod doesn’t have features, such as a built in level, that some people want/need. If your camera has horizon lines on it, you can always use those instead of a tripod to make sure your shot is level.
Cameras
This is the expensive part, aside from computers. However, you can use your phone’s built in camera until you save up for a camera! Seriously, many iPhone, Google & Samsung devices have good cameras. If you’ve got a cell phone with a good camera, USE IT!!! Your phone is portable so you can use it any time, anywhere, and you probably already carry it with you anyway.
For my budget friendly camera suggestion, grab a webcam. Seriously. Without naming names, there are several top performers who make bank using just their webcams. If your lighting is good and you have a computer that can capture/record the highest quality… customers won’t know the difference. How do I know? I’ve seen the outrage from when a top findomme shared that they recorded clips with their Logitec c920 webcam. Customers had no idea, because the performer’s quality was the same as someone shooting with a “better” camera. Lighting made a huge difference in this case, making it so there was little-to-no picture noise. If you are shooting with a webcam, it makes trade shoots more difficult unless people are coming to you, at least in my experience.
GoPro cameras tend to be a good multi use camera, however if your lighting isn’t bright enough, they pick up a lot of image noise. The sound quality is also lacking and not every model has a mic hookup, so just be careful if you’re concerned about sound quality. You’ll also find some visual distortion because of the wide angle – that can be great for Giantess and POV blowjob vids, but can end up working against you in other cases.
In 2018, I switched from using my Canon Vixia G40 over to using a Canon M50 mirrorless camera. Both are huge jumps in pricing from a webcam. I didn’t go from a webcam to the G40 overnight. It took several years and several steps in price points. In between, I used a cheap Sony Handycam and then a lower end Canon Vixia. For a couple years, I used a Canon Powershot. I scratched the lens on accident and it made it damn near impossible to get videos that were in focus, and that’s when I upped my game to the G40. I still switch between my G40 and M50, depending on what I’m shooting, how I’m shooting, and what my lighting is.
I’m putting Amazon links in here because new is easier & faster to find than lightly used, but I got my Canon Powershot SX40 off eBay for less than $150 lightly used. It took a while to find & win an auction though. Time is money and some people don’t have that extra time. If you’ve got it, there is no shame or harm in buying used, as long as it’s still in good working condition.
I’ve used everything from webcams to camcorders to DSLRs for making my clips. Honestly? Lighting made more impact than the camera. Here are two GIF examples, both of which were shot with my G40 but with different lighting. One with white balance set, one without. Notice the difference in skin tones in the top GIF…half of me is warm toned & half is cool toned. You can also see how the light on the couch changes with shadows. Good lighting will stop this from happening! If you’re not sure where to put your lights, a good rule is 1 light stand on either side of your camera.
Memory Cards
Ok, so this part is kind of an afterthought for me… and maybe for you too. However, not all memory cards are created equally. Make sure you’re getting high speed Class 10 SD cards! The higher the speed and higher class rating, the better your camera is going to work for recording videos! They cost more and they work better. Many 1080HD & 4K cameras won’t work with SD cards that aren’t high speed enough and/or don’t have a high enough class rating, simply because they are not compatible. The better your SD card, the better picture quality & frame rate you’ll be able to produce.
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Don’t bankrupt yourself trying to produce clips. Saving is super hard, but if you are able to take even a small portion of your earnings and put it aside to invest in better equipment, it is 100% worth it.
Also, note the fact that I’ve been doing this for 10+ years now (started at 19. I’m now 31). It took me a LONG time to upgrade, partially because I didn’t necessarily plan to be in this industry for so long. I’d say it’s only within the last 3-4 years did I start really producing mostly consistent quality content. I started using a $40 webcam and no lights. I bought the cheapest Sony Handycam I could find when I started shooting with others and I used retail discount sites, such as Woot and Groupon, to buy refurbished or older model cameras at every opportunity I could find/afford. I tend to be a “thrifty” person who will seek out the best deals I can find, but I also am very willing to pay more for better quality. That’s a luxury I know that not everyone can afford, and it is OK if you can’t! Discount sites and refurbed or used equipment doesn’t mean “less good.” Read reviews where you can and talk to your peers!
Full disclosure: I’m using affiliate links within this blog. Affiliate links help me earn money when you purchase the items I link, and that money helps me pay to keep my site going. Please consider using my links if/when you purchase items I mention.